Wapsi Square Forum

One hundred and forty-six years.

And now the Wait Brothersare taking down the tops and the banners for the last time.

"Damn it all, damn everything but the circus..."

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Wow. The Big Show no more.

No more wait paper ... no more clowns ... no more man on the flying trapeze.

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"Damn it all, damn everything but the circus..."

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It's all out and over.

Seems like a lot of people thought the circus was pretty damnable.

Now the only circus I know of that may still be in operation is Cirque du Soleil. Which is fine if you're French, I suppose.

Granted, I was never a circus-going type of person, but still... I heard it was because PETA kept throwing a fit about the animals. Which, if they had been mistreating the animals, fine, but that shouldn't be grounds to stop EVERYTHING.

Alkarii wrote:Now the only circus I know of that may still be in operation is Cirque du Soleil. Which is fine if you're French, I suppose.

Granted, I was never a circus-going type of person, but still... I heard it was because PETA kept throwing a fit about the animals. Which, if they had been mistreating the animals, fine, but that shouldn't be grounds to stop EVERYTHING.

Without the animals, they couldn't keep profits up.

Alkarii wrote:Now the only circus I know of that may still be in operation is Cirque du Soleil. Which is fine if you're French, I suppose.

Fine even if you aren't (they're Canadian, by the way). They put on a very different sort of show, but it's usually quite amazing. And, no animals were hurt in the production of their shows (although they've had a few fatal industrial accidents among their staff).

Granted, I was never a circus-going type of person, but still... I heard it was because PETA kept throwing a fit about the animals. Which, if they had been mistreating the animals, fine, but that shouldn't be grounds to stop EVERYTHING.

According to the reports I've read, they're stopping for a very common reason... they're losing money and can't afford to continue. Their operating costs are high, not enough people are interested enough in the circus to buy tickets, and so the cash inflow doesn't
match the outflow.

Granted, losing their elephant act probably reduced their attractiveness to potential customers, and the publicity about (alleged or proven) poor treatment of other animals probably drive away some customers. What they had left to offer, aside from the animals, just wasn't enough.

In the end, I suspect that changing public tastes was what washed the sand out from under their feet. They just couldn't compete with other forms of entertainment.

It's definitely the end of an era, and the loss of an old American tradition. What are unhappy or dissatisfied or abused kids to look forward to, if they can't hope to run away and join the circus?

As someone said, getting the average ten-year-old these days to sit still for twelve minutes (typical cat act time) is problematical.

Dave wrote:What are unhappy or dissatisfied or abused kids to look forward to, if they can't hope to run away and join the circus?

I've heard mythical legends and fairy tales of agencies and groups dedicated to helping kids like these, but I have never seen them nor heard of them actually doing their jobs right or effectively.

From what I heard, their main reason for closing down is that they just can't compete with things such as movies-on-demand and smartphones. The problems with losing their big animals certainly didn't help (seeing an elephant on a 4" screen isn't the same as seeing one four feet away), but even with all of the exotic critters they'd still have been losing too much business. The public's sources of entertainment have shifted away too much.

As someone said, are we heading toward Brave New World, or toward 1984? What if it's both at the same time!

Atomic wrote:As someone said, are we heading toward Brave New World, or toward 1984? What if it's both at the same time!

Either way, not buying in. More like bloody Fahrenheit 451 in my opinion...

Just Old Al wrote:

Atomic wrote:As someone said, are we heading toward Brave New World, or toward 1984? What if it's both at the same time!

Either way, not buying in. More like bloody Fahrenheit 451 in my opinion...

At what temperature can you kindle a Kindle?

Catawampus wrote:

Just Old Al wrote:

Atomic wrote:As someone said, are we heading toward Brave New World, or toward 1984? What if it's both at the same time!

Either way, not buying in. More like bloody Fahrenheit 451 in my opinion...

At what temperature can you kindle a Kindle?

About 2000°F in my experience. Propane torches can burn electronics quite nicely, but it does take a while. And plastic and metal don't generally sustain flames for very long, so if you want to set fire and forget, I suggest you get something that burns happily without assistance and gives off lots of extra heat. Thermite is, in my experience, perfect for this. 4th of July sparkler, paper bag, duct tape, and a bunch of thermite and you've got yourself a handy dandy "burn it to hell and gone" grenade. Excellent for ruining machines, computers, making a long-lasting, very distracting bright light, and burning through rooftops and floors. Not so good on walls, though, but that's what the burly guy with the spoked sledgehammer is for.

GlytchMeister wrote:Not so good on walls, though. . .

It works if you use a ceramic shoe and considerably more mass of thermite than of the metal you're wanting to burn through, but it gets very messy and causes a good deal of collateral damage. Not something you want to choose for neat tidy holes or precisely timed demolitions.

Right, without something to hold it in place, it just kinda dribbles down and burns a hole in the floor. I rarely needed to get through a wall that couldn't be busted open by Bub and his can-opener from hell, so it wasn't really an issue.

GlytchMeister wrote:Right, without something to hold it in place, it just kinda dribbles down and burns a hole in the floor. I rarely needed to get through a wall that couldn't be busted open by Bub and his can-opener from hell, so it wasn't really an issue.

Salt it with ground magnesium and it 'glops' together... dunno why...

Sgt. Howard wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:Right, without something to hold it in place, it just kinda dribbles down and burns a hole in the floor. I rarely needed to get through a wall that couldn't be busted open by Bub and his can-opener from hell, so it wasn't really an issue.

Salt it with ground magnesium and it 'glops' together... dunno why...

Oh, really???

HMMMM. I'll have to test this out, find the best ratio.

I'm guessing it's because magnesium oxide, being an ionic compound, has a very high melting point (about 3000°C)... Higher than the average burning temperature of thermite (2200°C). The addition of solids into the viscous fluid that is the molten elemental iron (melting point about 1500C) and aluminum (III) oxide (melting temperature about 2000°C) being produced by the thermite make it act more like a paste, or slurry. Kinda like fresh concrete.

Everything I ever needed to know I learned from Sesame Street, Star Trek, and the Wapsi Forums...

Occasionally though I'll start to write up a comment to contribute to the discussion, look it over before I post it, realise that it might possibly be construed as being a hazard to public safety or national security or basic sanity or something, and then delete it.

(this was meant to be my initial post, but I was rushing earlier...)

I went to Barnum & Bailey's Circus in the 70's, saw the Elephant (as it where) and came home with a 'chameleon' lizard. (It lasted two weeks....)

It seems that we don't have the Roman Coliseum active anymore these days either, but I'll miss the fact of the Circus...

TazManiac wrote:(this was meant to be my initial post, but I was rushing earlier...)

I went to Barnum & Bailey's Circus in the 70's, saw the Elephant (as it where) and came home with a 'chameleon' lizard. (It lasted two weeks....)

It seems that we don't have the Roman Coliseum active anymore these days either, but I'll miss the fact of the Circus...

Huh. So they were pushing chameleons up til the 70?

I'm guessing what you got was an American anole.